Longtime privacy attorney Peter McLaughlin remembered as 'the best in our profession'

The privacy and AI governance community is mourning the loss of veteran attorney Peter McLaughlin, who passed away 20 July surrounded by family in Dublin, Ireland, after sustaining injuries in a serious bicycle accident.  

Though semi-retired, McLaughlin recently moved to Ireland, offering counsel to various projects in data responsibility, privacy and AI governance. He shared office space with IAPP Country Leader, Ireland, and Pembroke Privacy Partner Kate Colleary, CIPP/E, CIPM, FIP.

"Peter was an excellent lawyer," she said, noting that he had been working on a few projects with the team at Pembroke, "but more importantly," she added, "he was a friend."  

In addition to his legal practice, McLaughlin was also adjunct faculty at Northeastern University School of Law, where he had taught data privacy and AI regulation since 2022. Colleary said he loved lecturing at the law school. In his LinkedIn biography, McLaughlin said teaching "keeps my practice current on regulatory, technology, and enforcement developments."  

McLaughlin, who spent much of his career in the Boston area, had described his professional experience as wide ranging, "acting as counsel who sits with product, engineering, security, and go-to-market teams rather than off to the side of them." He could "translate privacy, data and AI regulation into practical product and design decisions," noting, "My work spans the full product lifecycle: feature development and launch readiness, privacy- and security-by-design, AI governance, and the MSAs, DPAs, and data-use terms that sit underneath commercialization."

His work in data and privacy goes back decades. Cambridge Group President Agnes Bundy Scanlan, CIPP/US, recalled, "When I remember Peter, I think about how his salient advice helped create our 1999 FleetBoston privacy program. His sense of humor was always appreciated and on point. Peter helped make privacy fun." 

"I met Peter working on an American Bar Association publication in 2005," said DLA Piper Partner Andrew Serwin, CIPP/A, CIPP/C, CIPP/E, CIPP/G, CIPP/US, CIPM, CIPT, FIP. "He quickly became a close friend, a client and then a colleague at two different law firms. Peter was a great lawyer and a great friend. He will be deeply missed by those who knew him."  

"Peter was one of those people in privacy, and even before that working with data and commercial issues in enterprise software, who just got it. He knew which issues mattered and which were noise," said Amity Digital Risk Principal Peter Lefkowitz, CIPP/US. "He never pushed too hard, and he appreciated and laughed at all of our, and his own, quirks. Honestly, no one story stands out — Peter was not outlandish or attention grabbing, and it was that equanimity that drew a lot of us to his side."

After acquiring his BA in Government from Columbia University and his JD at Georgetown Law, McLaughlin served as assistant general counsel at Sun Microsystems from 2000-05. He then became privacy director and AGC at Cardinal Health until 2007.  

"I first met Peter back in his days at Cardinal Health when I was just starting up the IAPP's CIPP program around 2005," said York University Course Developer and Instructor Peter Kosmala. "He was one of the first to get certified but our conversations over the years weren't restricted to CIPP alone. I always enjoyed running into him at the IAPP Summit each year and at other events."  

"Peter brought a warm sensibility to every interaction," Kosmala said. "He was such a delight to engage with in conversations and ideas. And he always had something upbeat and insightful to suggest whether regarding a legal matter, a privacy issue or just the latest news."

One of McLaughlin's longest professional stints took place as counsel at the law firm Foley & Lardner from 2007-14. He then served as Of counsel, technology and data at DLA Piper until 2017 and as a partner at Burns & Levinson until 2021.

In 2011, the IAPP interviewed McLaughlin about his book "Protecting Personally Identifiable Information: A Guide for College and University Administrators." He saw higher education organizations as being high risk to data breaches because they "have tremendous amounts of data about us." He called universities "present fertile ground" for attacks because of the diversity of information collected — from financial to health data — and because of a "typically inconsistent means for protecting that data."

In 2019, McLaughlin co-wrote an op-ed for the IAPP about the new consumer-facing risks presented by the California Consumer Privacy Act. That same year, he also offered an analysis on whether insurance coverage for cyber claims is barred by a war exclusion.

Among other professional highlights, McLaughlin "handled many high-profile representations in the technology and health care spaces" and "assisted a nonprofit administering a nationwide health care platform by developing their privacy and security compliance, inbound licensing and technology service agreements with local health centers."

He "directed the strategy and implementation of a Fortune 20 company's global privacy program and Binding Corporate Rules application, helped a Middle East government develop its new data security and privacy law, and advised a recruiting company on privacy rules across 45 countries."

Kosmala highlighted their shared ongoing familiarity of living in colonial New England: "Pretty much every year when Patriot's Day took place (a Massachusetts-state holiday), we'd connect and share takes on the 'Minutemen parade,' which started early in the morning in my hometown of Concord, MA, and then wound its way toward his area in Lexington, MA. Our two towns always had a mild rivalry of sorts, but were, of course, proudly unified on this day and through this ceremony. We had fun with that."

McLaughlin spoke on several IAPP conference panels and at KnowledgeNets over the years and was a helpful guide to many other professionals making their way in the space.

"Peter looked out for everyone he met in the privacy community," said General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer Andy Dale, CIPP/E, CIPP/US. "He loved good-hearted debate, questioning norms and embracing pragmatic approaches. He would pull me into panels and help me get in front of audiences at a time in my career when it meant a lot. And he was just an all-around nice guy."

Ashfin Islam discussed the influence McLaughlin played in his career as well. "Peter was the greatest blessing, mentor, colleague, and most importantly, friend. He took a rudderless junior attorney under his considerable wings and plied me with the inspiration, resources and guidance to really catalyze my career," Islam said. "I wouldn’t be where I am without him. I'll always appreciate and love his palpable joy and brightness in his eyes when he talked about his kids. He was an all star at my wedding, and I'll miss him so very much."

"Peter was the best of our profession," said IAPP CEO and President J. Trevor Hughes, CIPP. "A deeply engaged and committed colleague, a friend to all, and a seasoned and sophisticated expert in the substance of privacy. His passing is a huge loss to us all."